This volume applies ecological principles and guidelines to understand past and current land use and land management; and more importantly, endeavors to promote more ecologically sound approaches to future land use and management decisions. The volume incorporates case studies from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives. The case studies explore past and current land use decisions, on both public and private lands, and include practical approaches and tools for land-use decision-making. Perhaps the most important feature of the book is the linking of ecological theory and principle with applied land use decision-making - the theoretical and empirical are joined through concrete case studies of actual land use decision-making processes. In this volume, readers will find a statement of fundamental ecological principles that are relevant for land use planning and management, coupled with multiple in-depth explorations of the application of these principles in action. In addition, most case studies describe specific tools and approaches for incorporating endeavors to join fundamental ecological knowledge with cutting edge application in order to both educate and provide concrete guidance for decision-making. The intended audience is broad and multidisciplinary, from undergraduate and graduate level courses in environmental studies to professional land use planners.

From the reviews:

"The main topic of this volume are ecological principles for land use and land management … . Through the arrangement and selection of the contributions the editors have compiled a coherent book that in a vivid and demonstrative way will make clear the importance of land use and land management for the function of ecological systems to a broad audience, from students of environmental sciences to decision makers and professional land-use planners." (Rainer Waldhardt, Basic and Applied Ecology, Vol. 5 (4), 2004)

"This volume applies ecological principles and guidelines to understand past and current land use and land management; and more importantly, endeavours to promote more ecologically sound approaches to future land use and management decisions. … The intended audience is broad and multidisciplinary, from undergraduate and graduate level courses in environmental studies to professional land use planners." (Ethology, Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 14 (1), 2002)